(Note: This is Part Three of a Three-Part blog series on Gentle Business. You can find Parts One and Two here if you missed them.)
Gentle business is a quieter, calmer, more authentic alternative to the hustle culture you usually encounter as an entrepreneur. It’s a way of working that keeps you fulfilled and prioritizes you, your clients, and your relationships just as much as your bottom line. Learning how to do gentle business is a process, but there are a couple of tools that can make it easier.
We talked about one of these last week (creating a website that supports your gentle business in so many ways). This week, we’re going to talk about the other tool that I believe is one of the essentials of running a business that supports rather than exhausts you. This handy-dandy multi-purpose tool is also one that most small business owners completely miss out on. What is it?
Your blog.
If you’re groaning right now or preparing to exit out of your browser window, bear with me. I know blogging is a learning curve, and it takes time and effort upfront to figure out how to do it in a way that works. But blogging is one of the most effective tools you have to reach your audience, stay connected, and keep your business both gentle and competitive.
If you need help figuring out how to blog well, please reach out. That’s what I’m here for! In the meantime, let’s go over a few ways that a blog can benefit your gentle business.
Ways a Blog Can Benefit and Support Your Gentle Business
1. Complements Your Website
A blog is not a replacement for your website. But it is the perfect complement to it. We talked last week about how your website is kind of like your business’s home on the web. In the same way, you can think of your blog as a way to engage your visitors in conversation and help them feel welcome when they come to see you.
2. Helps Visitors Find You Naturally
Your blog can also complement your website by boosting your rankings so that people can find you organically (that is, without ads) when they search online. This is because, when you blog about topics related to your business and your ideal client, your blog content will naturally reinforce the primary keywords that you’ve already optimized your site for. Also, because you can’t optimize your website for every single keyword people might be searching for, your blog provides a spot for you to share useful content that can be optimized for your secondary keywords, making it easier for people to find you with a variety of searches.
3. Establishes You as an Authority
Having a website builds people’s trust in the legitimacy of your business. An informative blog increases that trust even further. By providing people with answers and expertise, you are establishing yourself as a true authority in your field. Visitors to your site can see that you really know your stuff. And when you’ve helped them out once by answering a question or posting exactly what they were looking for on your blog, they’re more likely to trust that you can help them out again when they reach out to you directly.
4. Long-Lasting Content
Social media posts have a short lifespan. Depending on which platform you use, you’re usually looking at a couple of minutes to a couple of days before your post is lost in the digital netherworld. Blog posts, in contrast, have an average lifespan of a whopping two years!
Remember, gentle business is about working smarter so that you have the passion and energy that makes your business meaningful. Investing your time and creativity where it will go farthest and last longest is a hallmark of gentle business. Which means your blog is the perfect place to put the majority of your content creation efforts.
5. Provides You with Content Across Other Platforms
Prioritizing blog content doesn’t mean you have to drop social media. In fact, a well-written blog post can provide you with social media posts for Instagram and Facebook, shareable content for Pinterest and LinkedIn, and an update for your Google Business Profile. Not to mention that a pared-down version will make the perfect email newsletter. (See some other easy ways to repurpose blog content here.)
You don’t have to feel obligated to use any of these other forms of marketing, but if you’re already on them a blog can make it so much simpler to stay active without getting exhausted.
6. Keeps You Relevant
There’s always a balance to strike between being established and being relevant. When you’re established, people can see that you’ve been around for a while, you have experience, and they can trust your authority. When you’re relevant, people can see that you’re up-to-date on current trends and interests and active in your field.
It’s important to be both, and a blog can help with that. When you have an archive of material, people can see that you’re established and dedicated to what you do. And when you keep your content fresh, it’s clear that you’re involved in your field and in tune with what your audience needs.
7. Works Overtime So You Don’t Have To
One of my very favorite things about blogs is that they work overtime and lift so much of the pressure of being a small business owner. A blog is always there, working away in the background to attract clients, boost your rankings, and support your gentle business.
Blogging is an investment, but it pays huge dividends. And done right, the work involved in blogging is front-loaded. Once you’ve created an archive of material, it’s easy to keep it fresh by updating your evergreen content on a regular basis and adding brand new blog posts only when you really want to.
If you’re ready for your blog to take on some of the heavy lifting in your business so that you can get back to the things that feel authentic and rejuvenating, I hope you’ll be in touch. I’d love to help support you in your gentle business! And if you’re not ready for a conversation just yet, that’s totally fine too. After all, this is about running your business in a way that feels right, so if you’d like to just take it slow and explore more on the blog or the ‘gram, feel free to look around and keep gathering ideas.
Whether we connect or not, please know that I’m wishing you all the best in your gentle business!
